12-27-2023, 02:03 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-30-2023, 08:00 AM by Virtue.
Edit Reason: fixed an error
)
The newest ULTRAKILL layer, Violence has just been released. I played it to completion and have some thoughts about it, not only about the layer but about the game as well. It is the best layer so far and it casts a shadow over everything Hakita has made previously.
Along with the four new brilliant levels, we also get three new enemies which complement the game perfectly. If you were to observe the actions of some enemies you will see that when you are doing something unusual they cannot do anything to counter you and some enemies do not fit ULTRAKILL whatsoever, for example Filth, to defeat him you do not need to procure a plan you need to press space and he is utterly defeated and will no longer pose a threat to you, when playing a game where options of movement are so abundant filth seems befitting to the original DOOM not to ULTRAKILL. These new three are perfectly tailored for ULTRAKILL.
Mannequin is the most unique of the three, made up of hands, moving erratically, climbing unto walls throwing projectiles that follow V1's movement. Facing one of these for the first time was very frightening.
Gutterman has a machine gun and a shield that can be broken by hitting it with the Knuckleblaster. If a projectile sent by V1 gets hit by his machine gun fire, it explodes, potentially harming you. I discovered this when I was trying to escape from him using rocket ride, the rocket I was riding exploded and I died.
Guttertank lays down mines and uses rockets.
They are good additions to the game and I think these three belong to the category of Authentic ULTRAKILL enemies, whereas some enemies are so uninspired that they really do not belong in ULTRAKILL.
And also many novelties, such as a boss battle wherein you have to move between three moving carts while also trying to avoid taking damage and delivering damage to the boss, who also surprises you by returning from death right before you are about to finish the level. The case of 7-2.
A level that is almost completely dark, the only light source being, aside from the occasional thunder and sacrifice trees that paint the world red, flashlight that lights up where you are looking. 7-3
The Aesthetic coherence of the first three levels is broken in the fourth level wherein you have to climb a massive war machine that is also fighting an identical war machine in the distance. ULTRAKILL's great boss design peaks here, once you reach the heart of the machine a contraption activates and now you have to not only pay mind to projectiles but also have to move up and down to avoid damage, very exciting and mechanically demanding, I was on the edge of my seat each time I died. And after the battle you have to make your escape before the Machine explodes Mastering the level took a very brief time relative to the pain I had to endure in the first attempt, the contrivances Hakita set up to challenge me didn't endure long.
When I played the P-2 level of ULTRAKILL for the first time after finishing it the game told me that I had died 190+ times, which is an absurd number I had about 180 hours on the game whilst I was playing the level and never was I this challenged, so I played the level again and this time I had 20 or so deaths and the next time I played I had 4 deaths and I played one final time wherein I never died and completed the level with a P rank.
The same thing happened with P-1 though it wasn't as difficult as P-2 I mastered both of them regardless.
Now let us be honest, we are all ULTRAKILL players here, how often do you return to play P-1? And how often do you return to P-2?
You could say here that P-1 is less challenging but I will say to you that in the future, once the game is fully released the custom levels created by the community will define what challenging ULTRAKILL means. And even after that P-2 will stay as an excellent level whereas P-1 is already mostly forgotten. If you don't believe me pick up Sunlust, Eviternity and Eviternity 2 and compare them to the commercial DOOM map releases. Most of the DOOM official maps are poor but Thy Flesh Consumed stays popular.
The music of Ultrakill—There is nothing to chew on ULTRAKILL's music Hakita is aware of this hence whenever we are out of combat the music's volume and complexity decrease. The moment where we can truly appreciate the music, it is hidden from us whereas when our attention is divided it bursts out, what is the meaning of this, Hakita is neither a good musician nor competent in composing. Of course the music he makes is to accompany the game and it fits the pace of ULTRAKILL which consists of moving from one enemy encounter to another. But does anyone listen to this when they're not playing the game? Even when playing the game I mute the music since it is really irritating, it is as if the game is trying to convince me of how hardcore and intense it is.
Violence in ULTRAKILL—You would assume from the name that it is one of the most HARDCORE and VIOLENT games of all time but no, the level of Violence in ULTRAKILL is on the same level as Boltgun. The harm you inflict upon your enemies does not feel satisfactory, you could only convince a toddler who is mesmerized by the amount of blood in this game that the game is Violent. I thought up this while playing ULTRAKILL, the enemies in ULTRAKILL are bloodbags, wherever you shoot them the same amount of blood comes out and once an enemy dies it explodes and scatters blood everywhere even when their appearance is bony. It is impossible to satiate one's blood thirst with this game, despite the obscene amount of blood being scattered each time you kill an enemy, it simply is not violent in the same manner as Brutal DOOM is.
The game is in hell, and the seventh layer of hell is Violence, how does the seventh layer of hell look to Hakita? What is it's architecture?
It's architecture is Starved Neoclassicism, no ornamentation and a very limited color palette of white. It has a very austere look and it has giant doors and very long hallways that instill the idea that before this grandiose architecture we are tiny. This layer is not afraid of throwing you into darkness, it has no desire to light up everything and make sure that you never face the abyss.
Is ULTRAKILL fast?—ULTRAKILL once was Prestissismo for us, now it is Vivace and soon it will become Allegretto. This is arguably a good development, we have grown quite accustomed to the speed of ULTRAKILL hence we no longer feel it as something fast.
People who appreciate this game solely for its challenging aspects and speed will also be the first ones to depart for the next ULTRAKILL derivative Quakeboomershootervania which will be even FASTER and more CHALLENGING, however if this game receives high quality custom levels it has even greater potential than DOOM. Think about it this way, DOOM is 30 years old now and it is still occupying the minds of people with good taste, some weeks ago we got Eviternity II which was wonderful and it will keep on going, however DOOM is a very old game and the amount of things that can be done within it is ultimately less than ULTRAKILL, DOOM is a challenge for the mind, whereas ULTRAKILL is a challenge for the hands but ULTRAKILL with it's recent levels show us that, it indeed can be challenge for the mind.
5-3, Ship of Fools, my favorite level after P-2, is set in a ship and has a very clever twist to it, once you reach the room with the rocket launcher and pick it up, the boss of 5-4, Leviathan pays a brief visit to you and strikes the ship, resulting in the ship turning upside down and being partially flooded. Ship turning upside down means that now you have to return to the initial place where you came from, where it now serves as an exit. This level is simply brilliant, a very simple concept of playing the same level twice but the second time the level is upside down, is executed perfectly. This level is easy but it will never age.
Story told in three images.
ULTRAKILL's earlier levels have aged terribly even before the game could be completed and with each addition to the game they seem even older and even more out of place.
Can ULTRAKILL resurrect someone from the dead? No it simply cannot, it is not hyperstimulative if it were the game alone would suffice but this certainly isn't the case thus developers in anticipation, how do you say it, they rape the player.
You can not even imagine how conceptually advanced this is, Video Games, are usually Vices, what makes Vices great? You can combine them. So you can drink alcohol while gambling and play video games while gooning.
So if video games are a vice for you, why shouldn't you combine it with other vices? The imbecile gamer has no answer.
This is the logical conclusion of failing to truly appreciate video games, with each passing year people who can not truly appreciate video games will be wrangled ever harsher and not only that they will be reduced to the status of gamblers and goonslaves. It is over for them! The gambling addicts are already victims of Gacha Games and Foreverleagueoflegendsvaniagames. The lustful are the next target.
Hakita is bisexual and is not an hostage of an internet clique, he is the product and perhaps the pinnacle of it. His co-worker is also a furry.
ULTRAKILL as of now does not have many good custom levels but I will share the ones I liked nevertheless.
Many of the level titles are also references to music pieces, I collected the ones I like.
Heart of The Sunrise, 1-1
In the Wake of Poseidon,5-1
Waves of the Starless Sea,5-2
Along with the four new brilliant levels, we also get three new enemies which complement the game perfectly. If you were to observe the actions of some enemies you will see that when you are doing something unusual they cannot do anything to counter you and some enemies do not fit ULTRAKILL whatsoever, for example Filth, to defeat him you do not need to procure a plan you need to press space and he is utterly defeated and will no longer pose a threat to you, when playing a game where options of movement are so abundant filth seems befitting to the original DOOM not to ULTRAKILL. These new three are perfectly tailored for ULTRAKILL.
Mannequin is the most unique of the three, made up of hands, moving erratically, climbing unto walls throwing projectiles that follow V1's movement. Facing one of these for the first time was very frightening.
Gutterman has a machine gun and a shield that can be broken by hitting it with the Knuckleblaster. If a projectile sent by V1 gets hit by his machine gun fire, it explodes, potentially harming you. I discovered this when I was trying to escape from him using rocket ride, the rocket I was riding exploded and I died.
Guttertank lays down mines and uses rockets.
They are good additions to the game and I think these three belong to the category of Authentic ULTRAKILL enemies, whereas some enemies are so uninspired that they really do not belong in ULTRAKILL.
And also many novelties, such as a boss battle wherein you have to move between three moving carts while also trying to avoid taking damage and delivering damage to the boss, who also surprises you by returning from death right before you are about to finish the level. The case of 7-2.
A level that is almost completely dark, the only light source being, aside from the occasional thunder and sacrifice trees that paint the world red, flashlight that lights up where you are looking. 7-3
The Aesthetic coherence of the first three levels is broken in the fourth level wherein you have to climb a massive war machine that is also fighting an identical war machine in the distance. ULTRAKILL's great boss design peaks here, once you reach the heart of the machine a contraption activates and now you have to not only pay mind to projectiles but also have to move up and down to avoid damage, very exciting and mechanically demanding, I was on the edge of my seat each time I died. And after the battle you have to make your escape before the Machine explodes Mastering the level took a very brief time relative to the pain I had to endure in the first attempt, the contrivances Hakita set up to challenge me didn't endure long.
When I played the P-2 level of ULTRAKILL for the first time after finishing it the game told me that I had died 190+ times, which is an absurd number I had about 180 hours on the game whilst I was playing the level and never was I this challenged, so I played the level again and this time I had 20 or so deaths and the next time I played I had 4 deaths and I played one final time wherein I never died and completed the level with a P rank.
The same thing happened with P-1 though it wasn't as difficult as P-2 I mastered both of them regardless.
Now let us be honest, we are all ULTRAKILL players here, how often do you return to play P-1? And how often do you return to P-2?
You could say here that P-1 is less challenging but I will say to you that in the future, once the game is fully released the custom levels created by the community will define what challenging ULTRAKILL means. And even after that P-2 will stay as an excellent level whereas P-1 is already mostly forgotten. If you don't believe me pick up Sunlust, Eviternity and Eviternity 2 and compare them to the commercial DOOM map releases. Most of the DOOM official maps are poor but Thy Flesh Consumed stays popular.
The music of Ultrakill—There is nothing to chew on ULTRAKILL's music Hakita is aware of this hence whenever we are out of combat the music's volume and complexity decrease. The moment where we can truly appreciate the music, it is hidden from us whereas when our attention is divided it bursts out, what is the meaning of this, Hakita is neither a good musician nor competent in composing. Of course the music he makes is to accompany the game and it fits the pace of ULTRAKILL which consists of moving from one enemy encounter to another. But does anyone listen to this when they're not playing the game? Even when playing the game I mute the music since it is really irritating, it is as if the game is trying to convince me of how hardcore and intense it is.
Violence in ULTRAKILL—You would assume from the name that it is one of the most HARDCORE and VIOLENT games of all time but no, the level of Violence in ULTRAKILL is on the same level as Boltgun. The harm you inflict upon your enemies does not feel satisfactory, you could only convince a toddler who is mesmerized by the amount of blood in this game that the game is Violent. I thought up this while playing ULTRAKILL, the enemies in ULTRAKILL are bloodbags, wherever you shoot them the same amount of blood comes out and once an enemy dies it explodes and scatters blood everywhere even when their appearance is bony. It is impossible to satiate one's blood thirst with this game, despite the obscene amount of blood being scattered each time you kill an enemy, it simply is not violent in the same manner as Brutal DOOM is.
The game is in hell, and the seventh layer of hell is Violence, how does the seventh layer of hell look to Hakita? What is it's architecture?
It's architecture is Starved Neoclassicism, no ornamentation and a very limited color palette of white. It has a very austere look and it has giant doors and very long hallways that instill the idea that before this grandiose architecture we are tiny. This layer is not afraid of throwing you into darkness, it has no desire to light up everything and make sure that you never face the abyss.
Is ULTRAKILL fast?—ULTRAKILL once was Prestissismo for us, now it is Vivace and soon it will become Allegretto. This is arguably a good development, we have grown quite accustomed to the speed of ULTRAKILL hence we no longer feel it as something fast.
People who appreciate this game solely for its challenging aspects and speed will also be the first ones to depart for the next ULTRAKILL derivative Quakeboomershootervania which will be even FASTER and more CHALLENGING, however if this game receives high quality custom levels it has even greater potential than DOOM. Think about it this way, DOOM is 30 years old now and it is still occupying the minds of people with good taste, some weeks ago we got Eviternity II which was wonderful and it will keep on going, however DOOM is a very old game and the amount of things that can be done within it is ultimately less than ULTRAKILL, DOOM is a challenge for the mind, whereas ULTRAKILL is a challenge for the hands but ULTRAKILL with it's recent levels show us that, it indeed can be challenge for the mind.
5-3, Ship of Fools, my favorite level after P-2, is set in a ship and has a very clever twist to it, once you reach the room with the rocket launcher and pick it up, the boss of 5-4, Leviathan pays a brief visit to you and strikes the ship, resulting in the ship turning upside down and being partially flooded. Ship turning upside down means that now you have to return to the initial place where you came from, where it now serves as an exit. This level is simply brilliant, a very simple concept of playing the same level twice but the second time the level is upside down, is executed perfectly. This level is easy but it will never age.
Story told in three images.
ULTRAKILL's earlier levels have aged terribly even before the game could be completed and with each addition to the game they seem even older and even more out of place.
Can ULTRAKILL resurrect someone from the dead? No it simply cannot, it is not hyperstimulative if it were the game alone would suffice but this certainly isn't the case thus developers in anticipation, how do you say it, they rape the player.
You can not even imagine how conceptually advanced this is, Video Games, are usually Vices, what makes Vices great? You can combine them. So you can drink alcohol while gambling and play video games while gooning.
So if video games are a vice for you, why shouldn't you combine it with other vices? The imbecile gamer has no answer.
This is the logical conclusion of failing to truly appreciate video games, with each passing year people who can not truly appreciate video games will be wrangled ever harsher and not only that they will be reduced to the status of gamblers and goonslaves. It is over for them! The gambling addicts are already victims of Gacha Games and Foreverleagueoflegendsvaniagames. The lustful are the next target.
Hakita is bisexual and is not an hostage of an internet clique, he is the product and perhaps the pinnacle of it. His co-worker is also a furry.
ULTRAKILL as of now does not have many good custom levels but I will share the ones I liked nevertheless.
Many of the level titles are also references to music pieces, I collected the ones I like.
Heart of The Sunrise, 1-1
In the Wake of Poseidon,5-1
Waves of the Starless Sea,5-2